By Richard Bucey

For years, commuters in need of a newspaper, that stick of gum or even an umbrella were out of luck at the Fordham Road subway station on the B/D line. It’s been that way since neighbors at the barren station remember.

But efforts by Community Board 7 have brought the issue to the forefront once again after members voted unanimously to send a letter to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority requesting the agency reconsider a store.

On May 21 members approved the letter to be sent to Jeffrey Rosen, Director of the Real Estate Department of the MTA to include retail space within the underground station.

It’s a request that has been denied in the past, although Board chairwoman Adaline Walker-Santiago argues retail space is indeed needed.

“The request is driven by the Board’s strong belief that the neighborhood within the Board’s geographic boundaries needs new avenues to drive job creation and economic development,” Walker-Santiago wrote. She already had a copy of the letter ready to go. Once the motion was approved, she immediately signed it.

The reason behind the Board’s request is one of simple economic practicality.  Because nearly 4 million people frequent the station yearly, a small barebones storefront typically located in a subway corridor, selling candy, drinks, and newspapers could yield generous profits for both the MTA and the community.

“A commercial vendor at the D train station would benefit everyone,” said Eleanor Lundeen, the Board’s chairwoman of the Economic Development Committee, who originally proposed the idea to the board.

Unfortunately, despite the obvious economic benefits to the request, it has been repeatedly denied by the MTA with little to no explanation given.  “We’ve been requesting a vendor at the D train station for four years, and we still have no explanation as to why we keep getting denied,” Lundeen added.

The MTA’s decision on this matter seems to contradict what they have stated in the past regarding these sorts of issues.  In an article published last November by The Real Deal, a New York real estate magazine, the MTA said “they encourage the establishment of retail spaces in subway corridors.” In the article Jeffrey Rosen, to whom the Board’s current letter is addressed, speaks for subway vendors saying, “These shops are not geared so much toward people who think they’re in shopping mode, but toward people who are in a hurry and happy to be distracted for a few minutes, and that plays to our strengths.”

The article went on to say that when space in subway corridors is available the MTA is perfectly willing to lease that space to private owners.  With the combined factors of an overabundance of space, in addition to being one of the most heavily trafficked subway stations in the Bronx, leasing space to a vendor in Fordham’s D Train Station would be pragmatic for the MTA.

The agency usually issues a Request for Proposals (RFPs) should retail space be available. But the decision to release an RFP is made internally. As it stands, there are no RFPs for retail space in the Bronx.

Most commuters at the station echoed the opinions of the Board.  “I think it’s a great idea, lots of people come through here,” said Derrick Brown a frequent D train passenger.  “It’s all about convenience.”

However, some commuters speculated that a retail space has yet to be built because of the abundance of convenient stores located in the Fordham Business Improvement District, situated directly above the station.  The MTA might not think a vendor could be profitable with so much competition in the area, said Shakira Knight. “There are lots of other places around here, but it could probably work,” she said.

For Community Board 7 it is unlikely that they will receive an official response from the MTA until the end of the year. “It could be a number of issues, physical, structural, or commercial, but we won’t know until we hear back from the MTA” said Lundeen when asked why she thought the MTA had said no.  Until then people working for the economic well-being of the Bronx like Lundeen are unable to do anything but speculate as to why the MTA has denied such a seemingly benign request.

As of press time, the MTA did not return emails requesting for comment.